Climate Action Plan Standing Committee

MEETING MINUTES Climate Action Plan Standing Committee Regular Meeting June 15, 2022 The regular meeting of the Climate Action Plan Standing Committee will be held on Wednesday, June 15, 2022 at 5:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers Conference Room at City Hall, 415 East 2nd Street. A. Call to Order 5:34pm In attendance Robin Paone, Karin Hilding, Kate McMahon, Lydia Fahrenkrug, Melissa Hartman, Liz Records. Not attending Nathan Dugan and Ben Davis. B. Approval of Minutes from May 18, 2022 Meeting Move to approve minutes by Melissa, seconded by Karin. C. Communications/Outreach/Education – Review list of potential Sustainability Fund projects from May meeting (Explore Whitefish/POW/Whitefish Mountain Resort partnership) Ideas discussed for Explore WF/POW/WF MTN sustainability fund spending: • Purchase solar PV panels from the Flathead Electric • Sponsor EV chargers • Electric SNOW bus • Sponsor Bike Share • Adopt a Tree • Educational Materials such as brochures for properties who are thinking of building. This way homeowner is pushing the builder for solutions. • Sponsor a mobility platform for efficient transportation (ride sharing, bus connections) • Contribute to a full time sustainability staff person that could be shared among entities in the valley • Implement zero-waste at resort • Electric parking shuttles at the resort • Green business certification Action discussed: Agreed to send these items to the other groups (POW and WMR) and request a join meeting be held to discuss. D. Coordination with Climate Action Plan o Budget FY23 – type and cost of vehicles in budget? (Karin) Karin will ask if any Climate Action Plan items got into the budget. o Transportation Plan and Transit update (Karin) Will be discussed tomorrow night at the planning board meeting. Pretty good participation in public informational event. A lot of comments received from MDT (Montana Department of Transportation)  Chamber of Commerce created a transit task force. Mountain Climber is participating in that task force. At the next meeting Karin will be talking about a mobility platform. Also, the trask force is looking at an organization such as a transit authority which could work with other entities within Whitefish. A first step might be a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) between the entities. o Vacant Planning Department CAP position New planner hired at the city and might be a candidate to fill this position. E. Project Updates • Existing Projects o Recycling (Karin) – o Community Solar Project (Karin) – Flathead electric will be at the July 18th city council meeting. We urge the CAP Standing Committee members comment at this meeting. Be sure to mention we are in support of expanding clean energy. o Parking Management update - no update • Proposed Projects o Commercial Building Energy Efficiency Financing C-PACE (Kate) - WF Chamber of Commerce is interested A couple follow-up meetings held with Flathead County. The County staff asked the county commissioners and the decision was made to not move forward at this time. Whitefish Chamber contacted the city and said they are very interested in moving forward. Next step is to set up a phone call with Whitefish, Columbia Falls, and Kalispell and have a joint letter to the county pushing for it. Motion to set up a phone call made by Melissa, seconded by Robin. o Proposed Electrification Strategy (Robin)  Several resources have been collected (articles and news) related to electrification.  We have scanned all the goals in the Climate Action Plan for potential updates as they relate to electrification. In a shared document we are starting to work through the identified goals, adding notes and references to support updates.  We have touched base with Paul Tschida, Energy Resources at MT DEQ. He said there is a new "solar ready" code that is an option for cities to adopt. There are no codes regarding space heating or water heating. Paul will send a follow-up email with contacts and resources. F. Other Committee Status Updates Living with Wildfire June 28th O’Shaughnessy G. Public Comment - none H. Adjournment 6:58pm